News

Civil unrest has swept the globe as racial injustices and systemic oppression have again been brought to the forefront following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Protests, action movements, and calls for listening and learning span the world.

The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Education, Health and Human Behavior (SEHHB) is responding with a significant opportunity for teaching and learning, as is its mission, by hosting the first in a series of virtual panels, podcasts, and community discussions on the important topic of Dismantling Institutional Racism in Higher Education. Supported by the Provost’s Office and the East St. Louis Center, the panel discussion will explore how institutions of higher education (leadership, faculty, staff and students) can serve to disrupt systemic racism and white supremacy embedded into organizational life and culture. 

These systems are consistently reified through everyday organizational practices that dehumanize black, indigenous and other persons of color (BIPOC). The goal of the series is to clearly identify the systems, structures, and practices that maintain institutional racism and white supremacy in PK20 institutions of education. Through collective bodies, we will explore actionable steps to identify, disrupt and ultimately dismantle systems of white supremacy. Meaningful change which restores the lost opportunities of BIPOC requires that the people of institutions engage in self-reflection, examination of practices and policies, and actions that translate to structural and systemic change. Anything less would follow a dehumanizing trend of educators and educator leaders perpetuating the status quo.

The virtual panel is free and will take place via Zoom beginning at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 11, and last for approximately 2 hours. Interested participants should register at https://bit.ly/dismantling_oppression and a zoom meeting link will be sent to registrants prior to the event.

“We invite all who are concerned, questioning or frustrated to join in this critical discussion about how institutions can work towards dismantling institutionalized racism,” said SEHHB Dean Robin Hughes, PhD, whose describes her own academic practice and expertise as shaped through an activist and critical race theoretical lens - or way of knowing, thinking and living. 

“It is crucial that we use and share our personal and professional experiences, significant research findings and collective commitment to the University’s mission and values to take positive and effective action to dismantle institutional racism that happens everywhere,” she emphasized.

Hughes designated a collective of scholar-activists to coordinate this important discussion. The group represents some SIUE scholars whose research agenda and activism focuses on race and other ‘isms.’ Current members include the SEHHB’s Jennifer Hernandez, PhD; Jessica Krim, EdD; J.T. Snipes, PhD; and Nate Williams, PhD.

Along with Dr. Nate Williams, speakers at the virtual panel will include:

• Lori Patton Davis, PhD, Chair of the Department of Educational Studies at The Ohio State University’s College of Education and Human Ecology
• Dominic Dorsey, MSEd, Director of the SIUE Office for Accessible Campus Community and Equitable Student Support (ACCESS)
• Tomika Ferguson, PhD, Assistant Professor and EdD coordinator in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University
• Timothy Lewis, PhD, Assistant Professor in the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Political Science
• David Stovall, PhD, Professor of African-American Studies and Criminology, Law & Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
• Denise Taliaferro Baszile, PhD, Associate Dean of Diversity and Student Experience and Professor of Curriculum and Cultural Studies in the College of Education, Health and Society at Miami University of Ohio

Affiliates interested in the work of the collective are welcome and should contact Dr. Jessica Krim at jkrim@siue.edu for more information. Details on this event and future work of the collective can be found on the SEHHB’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Photo: SIUE SEHHB Dean Robin Hughes, PhD.